antonis samaras

Appointed Prime Minister Loucas Papademou announced yesterday that elections in Greece will be held on May 6th. Leading the polls is Antonis Samaras, an economist and politician who leads Greece's major conservative party New Democracy, and opposing him is Evangelos Venizelos, head of socialist party PASOK.

Samaras is the son of the late Dr. Constantine Samaras, Professor of Cardiology, and the late Lena, née Zannas, a maternal granddaughter of author Penelope Delta.

The cradle of western civilization, the ancient centre of Athens, is burning as a majority of Greek MPs voted yes to new austerity bills. More than 40 historic buildings are burning to the ground, including the one housing the Bank of Cyprus in the city.

"This time I come to Cyprus to get hope, but also to give hope", said the President of Greek New Democracy party ahead of his trip to the island. His party is ahead in polls and he is considered by many as the strongest canditate for the country's next Prime Minister. Proposed elections in Greece are in April 2012.

Most of the 100,000 protestors that took to the centre of Athens Sunday night to protest new austerity measures bills were peaceful, but among them there were a few vandals with masks who tried to burn the city centre.

Who these people are has been debated since May 2010 when they first appeared, causing destruction and the deaths of 3 adults, including a pregnant woman.

Today Athens police gave a list of nationalities, ages and other information for those masked vandals arrested for Sunday night’s events. One third of them are foreigners.

According to police, 53 of those arrested are Greek nationals and 26 are foreigners, including: nine Albanians, four Algerians, one Tunisian, one Moor, two Romanians, two Poles, one Afghan, a Moldovan, four Palestinians and one Iraqi.

Loukas Papademou been appointed as interim prime minister of Greece after George Papandreou's resignation and an agreement between political leaders to hold elections in February 2012, according to an official statement by the Greek presidency.

The new Greek prime minister is expected to be announced very soon after a meeting between current PM George Papandreou and opposition leader Antonis Samaras, and according to Skai Radio in Greece, it will be Loucas Papademos, formerly an ECB vice-president.

According to a statement released by the Greek state president’s office, Prime Minister George Papandreou and opposition leader Antonis Samaras have agreed to create a new unity government and set new elections for February 19th, 2012.